** Continued From: Blogging in the Material World! - Part #2
In parts one and two of this series I shared what I’ve learned about blog software, hosting and community. I gave you links to places that might be helpful to you in your quest to become an accomplished blogger.
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"Blogs are hot. Search engines love them. Surfers can't get enough of them." |
In part one, I showed you how most bloggers use either Blogger.com software or MovableType software for publishing their blogs. I also gave you a link to my favorite publishing software, EasyBlogs. I explained how it’s important to format your blog into RSS/XML so that it may be read by newsreaders. All three of these programs will format your documents thusly.
In part two I wrote about the world of blogging and it’s dependence on community. Pretty much anyone can be a blog fan but the biggest group of blog fans are the bloggers themselves. Even the über blog sites contain links to other blogs, other communities, alliances and webrings. To be a blogger, you need to research bloggers and blogger society. I gave you links to sites where you can get your blog reviewed as well as join with ratings system. I showed you where the blogrings (similar to webrings) were. I also told you about blog cliques and collaboratives. So now, you should be ready to get some real traffic to your blog and this article will show you the way.
As an adult webmaster you know the traffic potential that comes with a good search engine listing. You know that if you practice search engine optimization (SEO) correctly, surfers will easily find your site when they use the right keywords on an SE. Naturally, you want to submit your blog URL to as many regular search engines as possible. What you may not know is that there are several search engines geared solely for the purpose of finding weblogs. Some of them are:
Feedster
http://www.feedster.com
This site searches for RSS feeds.
Blogdex
http://www.blogdex.net
This is a blog SE from the folks at MIT.
Search engines use spiders and bots to look for keywords and search terms. Search Directories tend to use human input. They also take the time to categorize listings in order to make a search easier for the user. It only makes sense that there would be search directories designed specifically for locating blogs. Some blog search directories I’ve used successfully are:
Blog Search Engine
http://www.blogsearchengine.com
Don’t be confused by the name. It’s really a directory.
Blog Universe
http://www.bloguniverse.com
This directory is very friendly to adult and even lists an adult category on their main page.
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Blogarama
http://www.blogarama.com
A reciprocal link isn’t necessary but it helps. Don’t worry, they’re tiny.
Blog Advertising/Link Exchanges
Sure, you could dish out the big bucks for Google Adwords but you can also buy advertising you know will be seen by your target audience: bloggers. If you don’t have the dough or just want to pinch pennies you can also incorporate some link exchange services onto your blog. Either way or both, you’ll get more visitors to your site with these resources:
Popk
http://www.popk.net
Another free text link exchange. This one displays text ads within a nice little table.
Blog Ads
http://www.blogads.com
This resource looks pretty cool. You can buy advertising space on other blogs as well as sell space on your blog to advertisers. Some pretty big blogs sell ads here and I’m not sure they’re very adult friendly but if you have a non-adult blog, this is an excellent place to buy and sell blog exposure.
Maybe blogs are new to you but they’re definitely mature enough to have evolved into a network of search engines, advertisers, communities and fans. There’s no better time than now to get involved in this Internet culture phenomenon.
Blogs are hot. Search engines love them. Surfers can’t get enough of them. Buy software and hosting or get it free. Join a blog community or a webring. Submit your blog to search engines and directories. Sign up for some link exchanges or buy ads on other busy blogs. I’ve shown you the way, now get going!
Pretty soon you’ll be Blogging in the Material World!